Monday, November 12, 2007
Oatka Creek Park info
Oatka Creek Park trail map (PDF)
photo slideshow
My original plan was to leave Rochester around noon, with a stop on the way back to run 5 or 6 miles - my first run in over a week! Last night I had gone through various options of where to run - Mendon (on the course I missed on Saturday), Onondaga Lake Park, and the Old Erie Canal Historical Park were all strong candidates, but in the end I decided on Green Lakes State Park, because (1) I'd only been there once before, and never to run, (2) it's a dirt path, and (3) it's flat. Plus 2 loops around the lakes would give me roughly a 10k run, or I could shorten the 2nd loop to one lake and do about 5 miles.
When noon rolled around, I looked outside at the grey sky and found my enthusiasm for a run, especially after driving for close to 2 hours, seriously lacking. So I told Ann we were going for a walk instead, dug out our Rochester hikes & walks book (published by Footprint Press, if you didn't already know from dozens of other posts where I've mentioned Rich and Sue Freeman's books) and in the end decided we'd head down to Oatka Creek Park in Scottsville - someplace I'd thought about going to on several occasions in the past, but somehow we'd never managed to get there.
Oatka Creek Park is also sometimes referred to as "Plaster Woods" because the one of the main types of rock under the soil is gypsum. Gypsum (mainly calcium sulfate) was originally used as fertilizer and an early type of cement, and is now used to make the plaster component of sheetrock. In the mid-1800's, workers dug the rock out of the soil and hauled it away for processing, leaving behind numerous holes in the woods along Oatka creek. (More info can be found in the Freeman's book...)
We parked in the main lot and walked down a short access road to the park lodge, a fairly nice buildling with a covered outdoor picnic area and a large adjacent field - looks like it could be a really nice spot for a summer party. From there we hiked into the woods along a trail to the creek. The trail was fairly wide and flat, though as we descended down toward the creek and the trail wound its way through the many holes left behind by the gypsum mining the path narrowed to singletrack and was a bit more rolling. Despite it being a fairly grey day there was still a good deal of color in the woods... lots of yellow and orange leaves still on the trees. We took a brief break at a large, crumbling concrete bridge to look out over the creek... that was one of the few places where we encountered other people. Perhaps it would be a bit busier in nicer weather and during fly-fishing season (apparently the creek is a local hotspot for fly-fishing.)
From there we continued to wind our way through the woods roughly parallel to the creek, until finally the trail turned south and climbed back up the ridge. Ann was particularly pleased to make it to the top unscathed after her knee-popping experiences at Ellison yesterday. From there we had a short trek through the woods, until we reached a major intersection and choose to head off on a mowed path through the fields. Of course, once we were out from under the tree cover it started to rain... fortunately, not for the entire remainder of our walk! The fields were also scenic in their own way, especially with the border of autumn colors. At one point we startled a deer, who spent a few minutes trying to figure out what we were before heading into the brush. Eventually the path took us back into the woods, and then back to the lodge, where we walked back up the dirt access road to the car.
Definitely a nice place to walk - I know I want to visit it during other seasons, and I hope to do a little skiing, snowshoeing, and/or running there in the future. And since I got out to Rochester later than I'd originally planned, it was definitely worth it to spend a few more hours with Ann, even if it meant I didn't get out for a run today.
JMH
